Elemental Book One: Corruption of the Gods
by Huntress of Shattered Souls
Summary: It wasn't meant to happen, she said; the Pharoah was never supposed to win the Ceremonial Battle. Now back in his original home, Atem begins to change from a wise man into a darkened soul, taken over by an evil spirit in his Millenium Item; and as Yugi and the others grow, darkness wains on all their heads... It'll take five children to battle this evil, but will it be too late?
1. Prologue

**Hello, all of you wonderful people out there! My name is Huntress of Shattered Souls :3 Welcome to ELEMENTAL BOOK ONE: CORRUPTION OF THE GODS. This is my first ever YGO fanfiction, so I hope that it isn't too bad :). **

**This story is an AU of Yu-Gi-Oh!. It follows some canon characters as well as some OC's; this prologue is near the end of the Ceremonial Battle and it goes AU from there. **

**My updates won't be regular by any sort, though if I have enough ideas I might post more than one chapter during the week/weekend. I usually have more time to write on Friday-Sunday unless I'm at my dads or I'm busy with homework, so if I don't update for a few days or until the weekend know that it's normal. **

**While this story isn't so much focused on canon characters as it is OC, they are still very important to the story; every once in a while or every other chapter I wil have some sort of canon feature. Also, the pairings for this story are as follows - Mai/Joey, Tea/Tristan, and Kaiba/Serenity. I've written this prologue on a limb, as I've never really seen the episodes after Season 4; the video store I used to have in my town (which also owned all of the seasons to YGO) closed down a few years ago and therefore I was unable to keep up with the rest of the series. **

**Enjoy! As always, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!; I only own my OC's. :3**

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><p><strong>:Prologue:<strong>

On one of those nights where the clouds cover the stars and only the dim moonlight fighting its way through the hazy covering provides any sort of light, two people came together in a life-ending clash. Both looked strangely similar in clothing, hairstyle, and eyes; but their personalities and dueling strategies were far in comparison - and it is there, down below in a darkened cavern, protected from any sight by humans except for the five that accompanied them, that the battle raged.

A battle to end all battles, it was a dark twisting mass of shattered monsters and magic cards – some fought, some protected and some died, but all went to meet their adverse foe, thinking that this skirmish was the final encounter with their opponents they would ever have.

Finally, when one of the men had one monster to play against the other's Egyptian God Cards, the battle continued even fiercer than before; there were no words spoken as the other's Egyptian Gods destroyed his last monster - his Dark Magician he so desparately treasured.

And as the man's monster shattered to bits and his life points faded to zero, he knew the battle was won - that the other man was victorious in his quest to find himself.

There were tears; ones of sorrow, ones of bitter heatbreak, and ones of happiness for the victor. The victor took them in proudly, though his own emotions were beginning to show through; the younger man said four words to the victor as they departed ways, knowing that this was the last time they would ever see each other for a lifetime.

"I'll miss you, Yami."

The victor had smiled down at him, meeting his purple eyes genuinely. Though he did not say anything in return, the younger man could see that he was beginning to regret his decision; that perhaps his destiny wasn't as important as staying here with him. But the younger man nudged the other with his elbow, smiling through tears as he said, "Go, Yami... You've found your past; now you have to live it."

Yami had simply nodded, turning his back to the younger man as one of the three women that had accompanied them spoke wisely from behind. "Tell the eye your name, Pharoah."

The deep, rumbling voice of Yami seemed to shake the walls of the stone ccavern as he said, "My name is...Atem!"

A large wind burst from the stone door he happened to be facing, followed by several rumbling sounds; pure white light seeped through cracks in the wall as the door opened, revealing nothing but the pure white bliss. Atem placed one foot in front of the other and slowly made his way into the light, all the while staring straight ahead and not looking back; the younger man watched as Atem's school-like clothing turned into a cape and gown, and his pale-ish skin darkened to a tanned brown; the Millenium Item that once was around his neck - the same as the younger man wore his - transformed so that it was no longer around his neck, but instead resting on his head in the form of a crown.

The stone door closed suddenly, taking all six of the silently watching people by surprise. But it didn't close fully, at least not until a voice drifted through the final light-dripping hole:

_Perhaps this era is ending; maybe it is best if you allow a new story to begin. Let the shadows infest this land and take refuge in another._

The younger man hadn't any idea what that meant up until the same woman spoke up once more:

"A war - war is coming to Domino City...and this time, survivors aren't to be present..."

The man's heart, along with the atmosphere around him, went cold as he realized that they would lose this war. And when they did, all that they had built up as real would change. Their time was ending - and the time of the Five would begin.

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><p><strong>So... Yeah! That's the prologue :3<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed! **

**~Huntress, may the darkness be with you {oo}**


	2. Chapter One

**Thank you for all the views! Even though I only got one re****view, I'm still happy :).**

**Here is the first chapter!**

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><p><strong>: Chapter One :<strong>

He yawned slowly, feeling the sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window and warm his bare back. He rolled onto his side, stretching out her long legs; slowly, he opened his eyes and raised his head, staring at his wall for a moment before letting his head fall back onto the pillow. He rolled back onto his stomach then stretched, trying to see if he had developed any new muscles in his sleep. He had not, and this displeased him; he wrinkled his nose before glancing to his side, towards his sleeping sister. Her sides rose and fell steadily, and he let out the quietest laugh; he was practically twice her size in everything, it seemed. He would be a force not to be messed with, their father said often with pride.

He felt a blaze of irritation as his sister stirred; her breathing was slightly irregular now, and she was obviously awake, but her eyes didn't open. Squinting at her, he saw that she was mumbling something to herself. He let out a groan, realizing he was completing her stupid morning ritual.

_Every morning, this same old stuff, _she thought angrily. _Everyday, the same stuff. She wants to be tall and strong...like me. And she wants to have that stupid moon crescent marking on her chest or her face or wherever she's moved it to today...that whole character of hers is stupid. He'll never be the prophect Yogen-sha, and she never will!_

Pushing himself off of his bed and crossing the room rather swiftly, he shoved his sister rather lightly with one of his hands. He watched, anger boiling in his veins as the female didn't even stir from her position; only the bed creaked under the sudden movement. Grumbling, he shoved her again, making sure to use enough force so that her back whapped against the cream-colored wall behind her. Leaning forward with a smirk on his face, he watched as his sister opened her dark blue eyes - the same as their father's, unpleasing to his own, which resembled her mother's dark forest green.

"So," he said snidely, "Are you extra phrophetic today...? Or did it fail like usual? Your face definitely looks the same."

He stepped back, stifling a laugh as she rushed to the mirror beside her bed and began to smush, prod, and stretch her face; her cheeks, nose, forehead...even pulled her eyelids back and examined the white ball beneath, as if doing so would give her an answer to the problem she was having.

"Well?" he asked, the smirk still on his lips. "Are you Yogen-sha yet?"

A sigh of defeat followed her question.

"No," he continued, stepping forward and nudging her roughly - it was enough to send her to the ground but she steadied herself just in time. "You're not. What a surprise! Guess what - this is the best thing ever; ready? You still won't be the Yogen-sha tomorrow, either! You'll still be Sukai, my younger sister with the same body, eyes and face as you have now."

He broke off as Sukai's jaw clenched and she hung her head, crossing her arms loosely across her chest; he watched as she fiddled with a slipper on her foot absentmindedly, not meeting her eyes through the mirror's view. His heart twisted and he mentally kicked himself for saying anything; he had gone too far - _way_ too far.

_You know...she'd give anything to be strong like you, _a voice in the back of his mind said quietly. He scowled and moved closer to her, wrapping both of his arms around her shoulders and hugging her tightly against him, just as he used to do when they were little kids; usually, one had gotten in trouble and the other was trying to seem genuine.

"I'm sorry, sister," he said quietly against her hair. "That was really mean of me."

"It's fine," she stated simply - though he could tell she was trying really hard not to punch him. "No big deal."

"But it is, Sukai - I didn't mean to say -"

"I said it's _fine_, Mamoru." her voice was icy now - it held authority both of them had, but Sukai chose to use it more often when she was mad more-so than to give an order. She was safe about using the tone; Mamoru wasn't - he used it for whatever and whenever he pleased; but both of them knew not to use it on their parents - if that happened, all hell would break loose.

"Sorry," he said again; it was quieter this time, though Mamoru knew Sukai could still hear it. He pulled her back from his chest, yet kept his hands firmly on his shoulders in case she tried to do what she always did - run from her problems. "Did you sleep okay?"

She gave him a sad, almost hopeless little shrug and his features fell slightly. He was the only other person besides Sukai herself that were aware of her dreams; she hadn't told her friends, doctors, or even their parents of the haunting yet beautiful nightmares she would have every few nights; it was the only thing between them that wasn't shared with their parents for the better of Sukai's well being. Though Sukai never told him much of any of her dreams, he could tell that they terrified his sister just by how she would jump at the slightest things; a pencil dropping on the floor to a door opening without her eyes on it. But he did know that Sukai would tell him if something different happened in her nightmares - she had promised him that on the first night they had appeared; and from what the signs were saying, the dreams had been relatively the same. As to what 'same' happened to be, Mamoru didn't know...

... and he guessed Sukai didn't know either.

"Yeah, I did." she muttered, her eyes still trained on her slippers.

He rolled his eyes, closing them for a moment and sighing. "Don't lie to me, kid," he said. Adding a quick smile to his face he continued, "I'm too awesome to know when you're being serious and lying."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing." a small smile was beginning to form on his sister's lips, but she quickly forced it down. She grabbed a piece of her long strawberry-blonde hair and twirled it around her finger, looking up at him sheepishly from behind it. Mamoru blinked fondly at his sibling and released her from his grip, but not before Sukai rushed at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into it.

"Thank you," her warm breath was odd against Mamoru's chilled skin.

"For what?" It was a rhetorical question - not seeking an answer, and yet Sukai answered.

"For just being my big brother." she simply said, pulling away and winking at him before leaving their bedroom for the first time that morning.

**. . .**

Cold autumn air buffeted against Sukai's school attire, making her skirt flow up yet again. She let out a hiss and flattened it for at least the fifth time since she had left the house with her two friends Isaki and Bain in tow; Mamoru had left sooner than she had, going on alone to school and taking the long way.

"I _hate _the cold," Isaki yelled to the gray sky, stomping her feet on the ground and making leaves crunch beneath her. "Just go away, you...you cold!"

Bain snorted and brushed his golden brown hair out of his eyes, snorting. "You're so stupid, Isaki."

The ten year old girl glowered at her brother, her lips settling in a thin line. "Shut up!"

Sukai rolled her eyes as the pair began to bicker at one another and hiked her schoolbag higher up on her shoulder. "Do you guys ever stop bickering?" she asked, hoping that would distract them at least for a little bit.

"No!" Bain pointed a finger at his sister and wagged it shamefully at her. "It's her fault - she starts it half the time!"

"He does the other half!" Isaki retorted, reaching across Sukai and slapping her brother's hand. Bain let out a growl-like sound and swatted at her, and soon the two were battling overtop of Sukai, nearly toppling her over more than once.

She was suddenly on the ground as Isaki whopped her brother on the head, causing Bain to forcefully shove Sukai to the ground in order to get back at his sibling. She let out a groan as her schoolbooks scattered across the dirty ground and her papers went flying from their folders; she scrambled to pick them all up in a frenzy, then let out a squeak of horror as she noticed her geometry notes running away from her with the wind as its escape. She hurriedly stuffed the rest of her papers in her bag and raced after it, her hands wildly flailing as she tried to pinpoint where it would land next. She stopped to catch her breath and watched as her notes were carried away, up into the graying sky by the wind.

_Guess I'm gonna fail my test today... Can this day get any worse?_

"Looking for this?" A loud thud sounded behind Sukai and she whipped around, noticing her history book being placed at the feet of a group of boys that were all bigger than her - much older than her too. Perhaps they were someone of Mamoru's friends - they were just messing around with her as a joke.

"Yes! Oh, thank you - I thought I'd lost it." Sukai said gratefully, stepping forward and gather the book in her arms; as she bent down to retrieve it, one of the boys feet clamped down on the book's cover while the other remained nuetral. They all were glowering down at her with smirks of joy on their faces, and Sukai let out a scream, hoping someone - Mamoru, mainly - would hear her five miles away from Domino High School.

No one did - not even her brother, whose own name meant 'protector'.

**. . .**

"Who was it, Sukai? I'll flay them."

Serenity flinched at the tone in her husband's voice as she sat beside her daughter, holding a bag of ice up to Sukai's delicate face. She watched as Seto paced back and forth between the walls that separated the living room from the kitchen, his face twisted in anger. She hated when he was like this; most of the time it didn't end well - and this time wasn't any different.

"Seto, please," Serenity pleaded meekly, sensing Sukai's discomfort though it wasn't displayed clearly on her daughter's ice-hidden face. "Anger isn't needed right now, is it?" Her heartbeat accelerated when she saw Seto's eyes appear back in her vision, his lips a thin line. His eyes were a storm of emotions that she knew he wouldn't let through - at least not while she was in the room.

He said nothing to her, only stared at her intently as he asked a question to the third and final person in the room. "Why didn't you come to her rescue, Mamoru?"

Serenity gazed at her son, who was sitting in the ottoman chair just adjacent to the couch where she and Sukai were sitting. The young man's eyes were closed and his arms were folded loosely at his waist, seeming to think nothing of the situation. It was only when Seto applied the question again, this time in a more yell-demand tone that Mamoru opened his eyes and looked at his father gruffly.

"I would have if she had just come to school with me when we were supposed to leave," Mamoru stated simply, obviously not in the mood to be questioned when he did nothing wrong in the first place.

"Did you hear her yell and scream while you were out waiting for the school to open?" Seto pressed, his voice slowly rising. "Surely you had - she wasn't that far away."

"She wasn't even near school grounds, Dad," Mamoru retorted. "How was I supposed to hear her screaming from however far away?"

Serenity felt her husband's hard glare on Sukai, and she gently asked the question he was demanding to know. "How far were you from school, Sukai?"

"Five miles," Sukai muttered around her ice, and Serenity looked at Seto with her eyes narrowed. Seto muttered something incoherent under his breath and turned his attention back to Mamoru, going back to where he had left off.

"So maybe she wasn't close enough to the school," he said hotly. "But you of all people should know where she is at all times, Mamoru. It's your job as the oldest - and being a brother, for that matter - that you watch your younger sibling's every move - one wrong step and they could be gone."

"I get it, okay?" Mamoru groaned, throwing his head back and draping his arm over his eyes. "I need to watch her from now on - okay, okay... Can I go now?"

Seto stepped forward to knock some sense into his son and Serenity noticed the move right away. She quickly rose to her feet and gasped inwardly, hoping no one could hear it.

"Stop, Seto..." was all she said, hoping that he would abide by her order.

There was a moment of silence, followed by Seto's head hanging low, showing her that he had regained control of his emotions. "Go," he ordered Mamoru, and the sixteen year old gladly rose from the chair, planted a kiss on top of his sister's head before retreating to their bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Serenity sighed and placed her gaze on her daughter, who was still sitting on the couch with the ice - now half melted - pressed against her face. "I'm gonna go lay down," was all Sukai said to her parents before she, too, retraced her steps and walked down the hallway, shutting the bedroom door with a soft click.

**. . . **

"Are you okay?"

He forced himself to look into his wife's soft forest green eyes as he said, "I'm fine, Serenity."

"You don't seem fine..." Serenity murmured, tracing his collarbone with a nimble finger. Seto sighed and rose from the bed, throwing the covers off of him and going to the bathroom door, examining himself in the mirror - he grimaced as he realized that he needed to shave; however, he had no graying hair, so that was a plus...

He felt Serenity's short arms loop around his waist, turning him towards her. His wife stared up at him pleadingly, the eyes he had fallen in love with glowing in the dim light of the bed lamp. "What?" he asked.

"Just what were you going to do to Mamoru earlier?" Serenity demanded lightly.

"I wasn't going to do anything - just knock some sense into him by... I don't know, yanking his hair or something."

Serenity's warm breath hit his chest, sending a tingle through his body. "I'm sure that's what you were thinking of doing," she teased, a smile appearing on her wonderful lips.

"He needed to be taught a lesson," he stated gruffly, his hands resting at Serenity's waist to move her out of the way.

Serenity must have felt him trying to move her because she stayed in her place. "Not like this," she murmured, resting her head against her hands and closing her eyes. "Definitely not like this."

Seto felt his heart tear in two. He hated when he made Serenity sad or mad, even panicked; it made him hate himself even more than he used too. "I'm sorry, Ren..." he murmured, using the nickname he had came up with back when they were dating. He cupped his wife's chin under his hand, raising her eyes to meet his as he bent down and kissed her lightly on the nose - a thing that Seto only did when he knew he had screwed up majorly. "I really am, Serenity - you know that."

"I know, Seto," Serenity replied as she led him out of the bathroom and back into their bed. They returned to their previous resting position, with Seto's arms protectively wrapped around his wife, as if someone could come and steal his prize during the night. She was simply resting against him, doing nothing but looking up at him as he breathed into the crown on her head, allowing silence to come between them nonchalantly.

"I know..."

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><p><strong>Well, first chapter done! That was really long, if I do say so myself... :3<strong>

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Huntress, may the darkness be with you {oo}**


	3. Chapter Two

**Urgh, sorry for such the long wait! I apologize. High school is kicking my arse right now and I've been swamped with work. ;-;**

**But anwyays - enjoy! As always, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!; only my OC's :3.**

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><p><strong>: Chapter Two :<strong>

_It took three consecutive moments to send my life downhill._

_One minute, I was sitting in chemistry class, taking notes. _

_The next, soliders from out of nowhere came in and asked for all the eighteen year old boys in the room._

_The last thing I remembered was being flown away from Domino High School, off to an unknown place..._

_And now here I am, fighting a war I don't even want to be in; Lord help us all..._

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><p>"How far away is he?"<p>

"At least five thousand miles, sir."

The man beside him snorted, shaking his head. His breathing was caught, however, as he ducked when a bullet nearly shot his ass off.

The other man forced back a laugh and snickered in his comrades direction.

"Shut up," said the first man, lightly shoving his companion. His eyes - a dark green, almost like the forest that was just beyond their base - flickered around the darkened alleyway on which they were stationed; he was checking for enemies, those of which they were ordered to kill upon contact.

"He's five thousand miles away, sir," repeated the second man, twisting his head and peering into his radar through one open eye. "You want me to shoot 'em?"

The first was silent.

"Sir? Do you want me to -"

"Up there," said the first man, grasping the second's shoulder in his hand to support himself as he pointed high above them. The second man trained his gun on the point here the first was pinpointing, and smiled as he found whom they were looking for: a darker-skinned man, carrying something in his long dress-like pocket. "How far?"

"Not far at all, sir," replied the second. He felt his Commander's hand squeeze his shoulder tighter as he took order.

"Shoot the bastard, Kasai."

Kasai grinned menacingly, adrenaline running in his veins. "Yes, sir," he replied, straddling his gun higher up on his shoulder so he could get a better range. He set his radar just above the space where the man had last appeared and held his breath, waiting for what seemed like a lifetime. _Come on..._

A sudden movement sparked Kasai's heart with excitement. _Come on... Just get your head above the stone wall, you blasted American..._

Kasai heard the shifting of two other men and knew they were stepping up as his backup; if one of them fell, he still had his brothers to defend him like hell.

_One..._

The loading of bullets in Kasai's gun; his body shifting into a more comfortable position.

_Two..._

Baited breath from all five people with Kasai; his brothers - not by blood, but by choice - jaws' clenching with fear.

_Three..._

American's head peeked up from the stone wall.

_Four..._

American started running once he heard the gunshot explode from wherever.

_Five..._

Gunshots rang in Kasai's ears as his brothers tried to down American.

_Six..._

He watched, amused just the slightest, as American fled for his life - thinking he could get the hell away.

_Seven..._

There was no way in _hell _that Kasai was going to allow an American - an enemy - get away from death so easily.

_Eight..._

Dust began to accumulate around him as he waited; his comrades continued to take fire from barking orders of the Commander, but he remained still.

_Nine..._

He wouldn't shoot - not yet, anyway.

_Ten._

A blast from his gun; blood splattered the wall his radar was focused on.

American, as sad and sadistic as he was - as fast and agile as he tried to be - was as dead as a motherfucking doornail.

Kasai heard the quiet growls of victory from his brothers, but knew that it was only short lived - they had another battle to win; and this one was bigger, more hell-induced than a simple body being shot down.

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><p>The starless night echoed with the sounds of gunshots and dying soliders.<p>

Kasai raced through the forest, his heart in his throat. All around him his brothers lay, their bodies dragged into bushes and kicked in order to make room for passing through the undergrowth. All he could hear was the pounding footsteps of the Americans chasing them and the sound of his own pounding heart.

_They're going to kill me, _he thought wildly. _I'm going to die here. _

The ground was sandy underfoot; impossible to get a good traction in with his boots. Kasai half-ran, half-slid down the side of the hill and came into an open landscape, where grass clung to the ground like loose cat hair. Before him he could see the silvery-white foam of a river, the churning water seeming to call to him. He could hear the soft rushing of it, practically taste the salt on his tongue; it was his only chance - a chance he would have to take if he wanted to survive.

Whipping his head around, he saw the Americans beginning to descend after him. He took one long stride, sucked in a breath and dove, head first, into the sheer bitter water.

The iciness hit him like a physical wall; he felt the air crushed from his lungs and his body paralyzed, as if he had been electrocuted. Everything was dark; Kasai couldn't see a damn thing, only feel the bubbles of foam and oxygen brushing against his face as they flung to the surface. He opened his mouth to catch one, only inhaling water in the absence; he choked, coughing and spluttering, clawing his way to the surface before he passed out.

His head broke free with a loud gasp as he drank in the air around him. Blinded by the water trickling down into his eyes, he made out the direction in which the opposite bank was and churned against the current with his hands, kicking his legs weakly to help his exhausted body.

Soft sand scraped beneath his palms as Kasai hoisted himself above the water; the night air cut into his army uniform like a knife and he lay there a moment, shivering violently as water ran out of his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"_He's over here!_" came a shout from the east.

Kasai clambered to his feet and bolted into the forest once more without a glance back.

There was snow here, the slick and chilling white specks seeming to seep through Kasai's uniform and snug itself deep into his skin. The cold was so overbearing; his lungs burned from running along with the water clinging to his throat, making him cough violently. They'd hear him for sure, he thought as he slumped against a tree, trying to catch his breath; there was no way he could be quiet now.

The forest was deadly silent. Kasai didn't like the sound of it - at all.

He moved on after a moment, stepping lightly; he was reluctantly confident that he was undetected here. He kept his head low, his eyes watchful and alert, his gun at his -

Fuck. He had left his gun back at the stupid river.

Kasai took in everything around him with suspicion. The trees here were darker, somehow shadowed by mist; the grass beneath his feet was thick here, unlike it was back there.

He turned around, blinking at everything his eyes scanned over; this didn't make sense. Back south, there was barely any grass; the the east, there was snow; and now, up to the north, there was a lush grassland...the forest was completely silent here. Kasai could feel each impact of his feet stepping on the ground, feel the give of the grass beneath them, but still - silence was all around him. As if he had been sucked into a bubble with nothing between him and the forest besides the night.

However, it didn't seem threatening now; the dangers of his pursuers were fading into the back of his mind, so Kasai continued walking. The path beneath his feet was well-scented with something he couldn't quite decipher; a rank and mellow taste to the air, it was thick against Kasai's nose. It coated his tongue in an acidic taste and he gagged slightly, his stomach heaving.

Ahead of him, a shimmering light glowed in the bashful night; Kasai squinted, trying to get a better look. Gold, yellow and ruby seemed to dance in the leaves just beyond ihs reach; Kasai noticed the thickening air and immediately knew what was shimmering the night air.

_Fire._

The flames were closer now, so close to the point where Kasai could feel the heat radiating off of them; the smoke that whirled around in the night sky made it look darker than before - almost as if the area around him was becoming a shadow. Kasai screamed, stepping back rather quickly and not bothering to notice a loose tree root; he stumbled to the ground just as the dark cloud engulfed him in the flames and smoke, making him cough and splutter for fresh air - if there was any left.

He felt it seeping down into his throat, his lungs, leaving his entire body tingling; it burned so much worse than the water that had been in its place not too long ago. Trees fell around him, their bark stripped off their trunks like skin off a human body. Kasai yelled and screamed, but his cries were lost as his voice failed to protrude past the fire-blazing arena.

The fire raged around him, licking and consuming his army uniform, the clothes underneath and finally scorchnig his skin. Kasai cried out, his eyes blurring from tears and the overwhelming sensation that he would never get out of here - that he would die out here, just as he thought he would. He felt as if he were drowning again, the fire clouding his thoughts and making his vision blur and -

A pair of gleaming eyes stuck out amongst the flames. "_You are mine_," they seemed to tell Kasai, and the military man let out another cry for help before his world crumbled to nothing but black...

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><p>He shot up in his bed, screaming in horror. He whipped his head in both directions, checking his surroundings and feel everything at his sides, in front and behind him; nothing.<p>

He blinked harshly, feeling trapped inside the darkness around him. He clambered his way out of his bedroom and went out the back house door, out into the open where nothing could harm him.

"Kasai? What are you doing out here?"

The soft voice nearly made Kasai scream again; but as he turned around to look at the voice he sensed that - whoever it was - was concerned.

Kasai swallowed hastily, wiping his clammy hands on his jeans. "N - Nothing," he murmured, looking at his feet.

"Well, if it's nothing...come back to bed, sweetheart." at this, Kasai realized it was his mother speaking to him. Without a murmur in response Kasai shuffled himself back inside, down the hall into his bedroom and lay in his bed, curling up into a ball with the covers tight around him; he seemed to be acting like a six year old, but Kasai didn't care at the moment.

"You're home now," his mother's voice was soothing to him as she placed a kiss on top of his head. She rose to her full height and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Though nineteen, Kasai relished in the moments when his mother treated him like a little kid again - it made him forget of the memories that now haunted his mind.

As he sank into the distant realm of sleep, he had three things on his mind: the taste of the fire on his tongue, seeing it behind his eyelids as if he were reliving it inside his mind...

And those cold eyes of the stranger he felt that he knew.

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><p><strong>Two protagonists down - three more to go! :D<strong>

**Sorry this wasn't a pairing or an canon feature - I got caught up in the military scene :3. **

**~Huntress**


End file.
